Going Green: putting sole to street
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2007
1
7
19
Trip End
Aug 10, 2009
Nikaho, Tohoku, Japan
Monday, December 1, 2008
1. Health. Playing tag with elementary school students twice a week and volleyball with elderly women once a week just isn't cutting it.
2. Beer. It's either one or the other.
3. I'm Green! I've contributed enough to global warming already.
4. It's Broken. My car is in need of a $1,500 fix, and has been since March.
5. Japanese License. I was supposed to get my Japanese License in late August.
For these reasons and no more, I have stopped driving and put sole to street. I can't say this is something I would ordinarily do, considering I used to drive from the TKE house to the Zoo. Regardless, my life now depends on my my legs, which currently feel like they've suffered from the type of atrophy astronauts experience in a no gravity atsmophere. But, it's been a great change in both expected and unexpected ways. Speaking to the former, I am no longer risking possible deportation and a $3,000 fine. Also, my car can't possibly break any further. And lastly, I get to save a bit of money on gas (which burns faster when a car is stuck in 5th gear). Addressing the latter, I feel more connected with my town. Walking everywhere, whether to the train station or local grocery store, I bump into students, their parents, or random locals without fail. Though I get the occasional jaw-dropping glare from an elderly person, I figure that the more I walk in their hood, the less their jaw will drop. And even so, the quick-fix is a simple lowering of the head, saying "domo," and smiling.
Because I don't have a car, I now take the train to one elementary school and a bus to the other. As for the train, it gives me ample time to harness my chi before a full day of tag and Duck, Duck, Goose. As for the bus, it takes a little bit longer and feels way less safe, but perhaps more enjoyable. It kind of looks, feels, and smells like an old ship on wheels. The floor is simply floorboards slapped together and nailed down. And the paint job makes it look like it served 5 years as a bunker on a paintball field. It kinda smells like dust, mold, and a swimming pool. Be that as it may, in the morning, I'm usually the only passenger, which is nice. In the afternoon, though, I'm accompanied by some students, which is purely entertaining. Striking up conversation, we talked about our "favorites" as well as "what we'd have as our last supper." And for the record, I brought up the topic "favorites." After I told the kid my favorite animal is a walrus, he asked "For your last meal, what would you like to eat?" I looked around for imminent danger, but once I saw his curious eyes, I obviously answered, "pizza." When I asked him the same thing, he answered in English, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." Odd, I thought.
But then I noticed he had the Annotated Bible in English sticking out of his backpack. Smart kid.
Comments
Self Conscious
Health = You saw a picture of Pearsall and had a realization of what could become of you if you didn't change your ways.
I ride my bike to Whitman from my house. Fully inflated Obama tires.
Domo shit stain
Wisdom
To Babbit, Rawson, et. al:
First and foremost, I am a svelt 250 these days. I am, was, and always will be the poster child for 'health in America' and can't wait until I am teaching your children about the benefits of a bag of doritos and a bowl of top ramen before bed every night. Great for cleaning out the system. As for Rawson's new found 'greeness' I give it about 1 month tops. This sounds like the same crappy scam he would run in college when attempting to 1.) give up Jack and the Box 2.) promise to study more for Japanese tests 3.) get better at pong 4.) put on weight so as to not look like a short-haired 5th grade girl and 5.) read more than 10 pages from one of the books he chose for his independent study with Professor Belay. The reoccuring theme throughout all of these items above is failure. Ergo, being a pessimist, this 'green' phase will also come to a halter.
As for you Micah, the day will come when those Obama tires go flat on your way to class, thus causing you to be late for the exam in said class, which will force the professor to fail you and you will not be able to graduate from Whitman. Not that I have thought about the above situation at all, just something off the top of my head. Boom.
Fatsall
Wrath
Why don't you walk over here and come get your bike?